Aviation: The Aerial Tactics Game of Attack and Defence (1925)

Another Stratego variant. This game AVIATION along with Dover Patrol and L'Attaque were each designed by Harry Gibson along with a more complicated incorporation of all three, a game called Tri-Tactics

Aviation is played on a board divided into squares, each of the two players having forty-two playing pieces. Of these, thirty- two represent aircraft, ranging from a squadron of single-seater fighters (Spitfires?) to Lysander reconnaissance planes and Airships, the remaining ten pieces being Barrage Balloons, Searchlights and Anti-Aircraft Guns.

Players set up the pieces on their half of the board with the backs toward the opponent, thus in theory each player has no knowledge of the initial positioning of his opponent's forces. Two spaces at either end of the board are marked as an Aerodrome and among each player's aircraft are two Troop Carriers, and the object of the game is to manoeuvre one of these into the opponent's Aerodrome.

A piece can move one square forwards, backwards or sideways, except the Barrage Balloons that cannot move and Troop Carriers that can go diagonally. Attacks are made by moving up to another piece and challenging; players then reveal the identity of both pieces and the one with the lowest points value loses and is removed from the board. In the case of equal points, both lose. Should a Searchlight challenge or be challenged by an aircraft, if the owner of the Searchlight has an Anti-Aircraft Gun within clear range, the aircraft is shot down.

Although there is a certain lack of realism who can shoot down what, for example only Bombers and Reconnaissance planes can down a Barrage Balloon, it does remain a game requiring a degree of tactical application, particularly in the initial deployment. It also calls for a good memory and considerable honesty.